


luminescence

by howelllesters



Series: askfics [6]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Candle Lover Phil Lester, Candles, Fluff, M/M, Moving Out, One Shot, Silly, The Manchester Apartment (Phandom)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howelllesters/pseuds/howelllesters
Summary: When packing for London, Phil realises he's amassed quite the candle collection. So, naturally, he decides to light them all at once.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: askfics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769077
Kudos: 3





	luminescence

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 'luminescence', from anonymous.

Forty seven.

Forty seven candles Phil had found stashed away in various places around his bedroom, and he knew there were dozens more scattered throughout the rest of the flat. This was getting embarrassing.

“Phil, have you got my spare phone charger?” Dan called from the hallway, floorboards creaking as he padded his way through to Phil’s room.

“I think it’s in the living room!” Phil cried frantically, attempting to buy himself more time to hide the ever-growing pile of tealights, votives, pillars… he even had some dinner candles. They didn’t have a holder for these. What had he been thinking?

“Okay,” Dan answered, footsteps retreating, and Phil was reminded of exactly what he’d been thinking.

His boyfriend was afraid of the dark, and Phil liked- loved candles, and that combination had allowed him to assuage his guilt every time he popped more candles in his basket while out shopping. What if they had a power cut? What if every bulb in the apartment blew? What if there was a zombie invasion and they had to stay in the flat together for three years? Sure they wouldn’t have food, or other essential things for survival, but they’d have light, so Dan wouldn’t be scared.

Deep down, Phil knew this was a very flimsy excuse for his candle habit, but he hadn’t realised quite how bad the problem had gotten until this moment, moving week. In a few days’ time, they left Manchester for London, and now they were having to pack as economically as possible, being ruthless with what they took with them.

Having an entire box dedicated to candles was not going to fly with Dan at all.

As Phil looked at his little collection though, a bright mess of greens, pinks, oranges, lilacs, browns - why did he buy a brown candle? - he almost felt like they knew their fate, and that made him sad.

Get a grip, he told himself.

“Phil,” Dan yelled out again, and this time Phil sprang into action, dashing out of his room before Dan could enter and see the candle stash.

“Yes?” he asked, surprising Dan who had wandered out into the hallway again.

“Oh, hello. Um, it’s half six, and I hadn’t realised. Just wondered what you wanted to do about dinner?” Dan asked.

“Don’t suppose we’ve got much in?” Phil replied, and Dan shook his head. They’d been running down all their food supplies, given that they couldn’t exactly take them with them, and they weren’t keen on wasting anything.

“Nope, literally just cereal and endless tins of baked beans at this point,” Dan laughed, and Phil smiled.

“Takeaway then?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Dan grinned.

“What do you fancy?”

“Well, we’ve only got a few more days here, so I thought maybe I could go pick up some Chinese from that place we tried out a few months ago? It’ll probably be the last time we can eat from there.”

They were silent for a moment, both looking at each other. Every time they even thought of doing something for the last time in Manchester, it made their stomachs squirm uncomfortably. The idea of leaving their home, the place they’d finally fallen for each other and moved in together and made a life together, been happy together, it gave them second thoughts about everything.

London was going to be so much fun though. It was going to be a new adventure, theirs from the very start, and that notion soon settled the stomach flipping. Still, Phil couldn’t resist taking Dan’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled, and Dan nodded. “Are you alright to go and get it or shall I?”

“I’ll go,” Dan said. “Need to get out of the house for a bit.”

Phil laughed in understanding, fishing for a tenner in his back pocket to cover half of the meal and giving Dan a quick kiss on the cheek.

“See you in a bit,” Phil said, and then Dan was gone, leaving Phil stood alone in the hallway.

It was obvious what needed to be done.

Abandoning finishing up his room for now, Phil sprinted into Dan’s room, clearing out the few candles he’d stored in his drawers, and then made his way onto the bathroom, knowing there were a few there too. Scurrying back to his room, hands full of candles already, Phil simply dropped them onto the existing pile then went to tackle the kitchen and living room.

He really needed to hide all of these before Dan got back, because they were planning to start on their shared rooms tonight and tomorrow, and there was no way he could explain the masses and masses of candles he’d burrowed away like a possessed squirrel over the years.

The giant candles in the glass jars, they were safe; he knew Dan would let him bring those down, so they just got carefully left on Phil’s bed. Everything else though, everything else was in danger. Jumbo packs of sandalwood tealights stored behind the spare kitchen roll, thirty pink votives packed into a cupboard Dan never used simply because they’d been on offer, a set of twenty assorted candles in containers just because they looked pretty but were actually unbearably strong.

By the time Phil got to his room, certain that he’d retrieved every candle from around the flat, he was looking at over a hundred of the damn things.

“Goodbye, friends,” he whispered softly to them, knowing they were all going to have to be disposed of before Dan could ever find out what a candle hoarder he was.

But then he could just start a new stockpile once they were in London, so all was not lost.

_got stuck in traffic on the way there :( won’t be back for another half hour or so xxx_

Phil’s phone pinged with the update from Dan, and he frowned, just as his stomach grumbled loudly. He hadn’t realised how ready he was for food until Dan had suggested it, and now that the candle hunt was over, he was very much aware of how hungry he was. Poor Dan though. The weather was pretty miserable outside, relentless rain making the sky much darker than it should have been, and he was pretty sure Dan had gone out in just a tshirt.

_Hope you’re okay! Don’t get too wet :) x_

_too late, i look like a drowned rat. xxx_

He smiled at his phone sympathetically. Rain had been threatening all day, so he was an idiot for not wearing a jacket, but he still felt sorry for him. Maybe they could watch his favourite film tonight, to make him feel better. Top boyfriend material. From nowhere, one of the candles rolled off the pile and settled next to Phil’s foot, and he grinned. Even better idea.

Forty five minutes later, Phil heard the sound of a key in the door and leapt up from the floor. He had a plan, and he was determined to see it through.

“I hate the world,” Dan muttered as he stepped into the apartment, shaking his hair.

“You’re soaked,” Phil giggled, earning himself a glare from his boyfriend. “Here, I’ll warm the food up while you go get out of your wet clothes.”

“Thanks,” Dan said, gladly handing over the little white bag and making his way to the bathroom, dripping down the hallway.

When he emerged into the living room not long after, Phil had their food spread out across the coffee table, Dan’s favourite film ready to play, and he was sat on the sofa eagerly waiting for him. At first, Dan didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, too busy running a hand through his now wavy hair and fiddling with the bottom of Phil’s hoodie, but as he looked up, he came to an abrupt stop.

“What the…” he breathed out, and Phil grinned at him, albeit nervously.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I think this constitutes a serious fire hazard,” started Dan, and Phil’s face fell. Okay, so maybe lighting every single one of his re-discovered candles and dotting them around the living room was a tad dangerous, but he’d thought it was romantic too. “But it’s really cute. Why have you done this, you idiot?”

“Because it’s one of our last nights here,” Phil said, smiling up at Dan as he sat next to him on the sofa. “And I wanted it to be special.”

“Where did you even get all these from?” Dan laughed, in awe at the sheer number of flickering lights around the room. “Did you buy these specially?”

“No,” Phil said, fidgeting a little. “But it doesn’t matter where they’re from. Come on, food’s getting cold.”

Dan eyed him suspiciously for a moment, but his hunger won out and he reached forward for a box of noodles, while Phil helped himself to some chicken and pressed play.

Half an hour passed in comfortable silence, the two of them wolfing down their food, Dan occasionally looking round the room to once more take in the sight of all these candles. It was impossibly sweet, and every time he thought about it, he smiled at Phil again.

After a while though, Dan could feel his head throbbing with a dull pain, and he scrunched his eyes up, pressing his fingers to his temples to try and relieve it. He was sure he wasn’t tired yet, it wasn’t even nine, and the television had never caused him headaches before. Twisting round from leaning against Phil’s chest to look up at his boyfriend, he saw Phil squinting a little too.

“Are you okay?” he mumbled, talking making the headache a little worse.

“Head hurts a bit,” Phil admitted, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Same,” Dan replied, and Phil opened his eyes again, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Actually, I feel a bit light-headed too.”

“Same,” Phil echoed, pausing the film as his concern grew. He looked down at Dan, trying to suss out what was happening, then out at the room as if inspiration might strike - and it did. “Oh my god, I think it’s the candles.”

“What?” Dan asked, sitting up properly and raising an eyebrow at him. “But the light is really soft.”

“Not the light, the smell,” Phil said, chewing his lip. “Most of them are scented, and I didn’t really think about it before, but now I’m wondering if maybe… you know…”

“Oh my god, Phil,” Dan groaned, trying not to laugh as it hurt his head.

“I’m the least romantic person ever,” Phil huffed, and Dan stood up, offering a hand to him.

“No you’re not, you’re amazing, you just have Phil moments,” he said, kindness in his voice undermined by his snort, pulling his boyfriend up to stand next to him. “Come on, let’s just head to your room and finish the film in there.”

“Probably for the best,” Phil nodded, retrieving the film as Dan went about blowing out every single candle. It took him a good five minutes, and when he was finally certain he’d got them all and they wouldn’t burn to death in the middle of the night, he stumbled into Phil’s room feeling even dizzier.

“Okay, we’re good,” he said, all but collapsing onto the bed and pressing into Phil.

“Are you okay?” Phil asked, alarmed as he looked down at Dan, finger hovering over the touchpad on his laptop ready to resume the film.

“Fine,” Dan said weakly. “Just, next time you insist on lighting a hundred candles, you’re helping me put them out. And they won’t be scented.”


End file.
